17 mai 2017 - DAILY MAIL Johnny Depp demands judge unseal whistleblower testimony in TMG case

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Johnny Depp filed a motion this week demanding the judge allow a whistleblower testimony be unsealed in his $25 million fraud lawsuit against his ex-managers.

The 52-year-old actor asked that the documents be unsealed for the public despite opposition from Robert and Joel Mandel of The Management Group (TMG), who he fired in 2016.

In April, it was revealed Depp is $40 million in debt.

In Los Angeles County Superior Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, Depp accuses his former business managers of launching a global media smear campaign against him.

He said he paid the company $28 million in fees for legal, business, tax and accounting services to TMG from 1996 to 2016.

The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star accused the Mandels and TMG of negligence, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty for failing to pay his taxes on time resulting in $5.6 million in federal tax penalties and interest.

Depp says the managers loaned $10 million of his money to third parties without permission and kept messy financial records. He accused them of using his money to invest in business' the Mandels had a stake in.

His business managers claimed they took appropriate measures to manage the actor's finances and warned him about him his overspending multiple times. They blamed him solely for his dire financial situation alleging he spent $2 million a month to maintain his lavish lifestyle.

TMG said Depp spent $75 million on 14 homes, $18 million on a luxury yacht, $1 million to archive his Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe memorabilia and $3 million to blast author Hunter S Thompson's ashes from a custom cannon.

Depp said he actually spent $5million on the cannon.

Every month, TMG said Depp spent $30,000 on expensive wine, $300,000 on 40 full-time employees, $150,000 on security for him and his family and $200,000 in private jet costs.

Depp said he uncovered significant new information including documents and a testimony from a former TMG employee whistleblower. The employee, who was fired from TMG last month, said she could back up Depp's claims of money mismanagement by the company.

The actor filed docs to amend his complaint to add the new allegations but TMG demanded the documents be sealed in the case.

Depp demanded the court refuse to grant TMG's motion to seal the information and for the name of the former employee, the fact she worked on Depp's account at the company, that she was fired for complaining about TMG's mismanagement along with her statement that 'she knows all the dirt and all the thieves'.

Then on May 15th, Depp filed new docs demanding the judge allow this information into the case and for it to be public.

The actor explains he learned through an internal message and other sources that the former TMG employee aka the whistleblower was aware of serious wrongdoing crucial to his claims against his business managers.

He argues the information reveals the depth of misconduct his former manager Joel Mandel undertook on behalf of the company.

Depp says the only reason they want the information hidden from the public is because TMG is worried about their reputation.

He said they do not like how it makes them look. He accuses them of including a wide range of inaccurate and irrelevant materials in their court documents as an 'attack pulpit' to smear him and the whistleblower.

He points out to an interview his ex-managers did with the Hollywood Reporter where TMG they claimed the whistleblower was a 'low-level clerk who promised revenge'.

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